Hotels talk personalization, but most aren’t doing it

Data silos, weak segmentation, and underused channels like WhatsApp reveal the gap between ambition and execution in hospitality marketing

Bookboost’s State of Data-Driven Marketing in Hospitality (2025) surveyed 60+ hotel professionals worldwide. The report highlights a wide gap between hotels’ marketing ambitions and their actual execution in segmentation, multi-channel campaigns, and personalization.

Key takeaways

• Segmentation still basic: 25% of hotels don’t segment at all; large properties lead but even 13% there don’t segment.
• Multi-channel underused: 1 in 5 hotels run no campaigns; WhatsApp marketing barely used (12%).
• Data scattered: Only 12% have centralized, actionable guest data; most teams want better integration and automation.
• Personalization struggles: Nearly half of hotels never managed to implement it effectively; success comes only where segmentation and automation align.
• Action point: Start with a few high-value guest segments, clean up data, and use underleveraged channels like WhatsApp.

Get the full report at Bookingboost